Film Across Antarctica winner of the 16th FGF

Film Across Antarctica winner of the 16th FGF, also awarded Stena - Ascent to Gold with Janja Garnbret.

The American film Across Antarctica, the incredible story of legendary polar explorer Will Steger, is the grand winner of the 16th Mountain Film Festival. In addition to the main prize of the city of Domžale, the festival jury awarded the best in individual categories among 29 films in the competition program; the best climbing film is Stena - Ascent to Gold, which depicts Janja Garnbret's rise to Olympic gold. A special award was also presented by Television Slovenia. The award-winning films will be screened on Friday in Radovljica, Celje and Ljubljana, where today in Cankarjev dom there will also be a lecture by Luka Stražar and the presentation of the book With Knowledge to the Stars, and on Saturday in Radovljica and Domžale.

The main prize of the city of Domžale was won this year by the film Across Antarctica by American director Tashe Van Zandt. “A wonderful film about an exceptional achievement – the first crossing of Antarctica with a dog team – and the incredible story of explorer Will Steger. The director succeeded in combining wonderful archival footage from the end of the previous century with material filmed on the main protagonist's last journey. The film's message is clear and powerful: if we want to save our planet, we must cooperate, even if we come from different countries. Nothing is impossible!” stated the festival jury in its reasoning, consisting of Polish director Eliza Kubarska, Bosnian filmmaker Zehrudin Isaković and Slovenian alpinist Milan Romih.

The best climbing film is Stena - Ascent to Gold by British director Nick Hardie, an emotional story about the world's top four sport climbers and the Olympic debut of sport climbing. The film thrillingly shows Janja Garnbret's rise to Olympic gold and her deserved place in history, while viewers also root for the other protagonists and their families. Garnbret, together with director Hardie, coach Roman Krajnc and coach of the Slovenian sport climbing team Luka Fondo, added an Olympic spice to the film premiere and festival opening in Cankarjev dom. The award for the best mountaineering film went to the Slovak film Dhaulagiri is my Everest by Pavol Barabáš, which attempts through the story of excellent Slovak alpinist Zoltan Demjan to answer the eternal question: Why do we climb high mountains even though we risk our lives?

The award for the best film on mountain nature and culture went to the Chinese-Austrian documentary Snow Leopards and Friends (Xi Zhinong, Zi Ding, Da Jie, Qu Peng), which reveals the secret life of the snow leopard, which is extremely difficult to film, in one of the world's most beautiful corners: Tibet. It was filmed by talented filmmakers from a nearby village, distinguished by exceptional photography as well as warmth and love. In the mountains, sports and adventure category, the American film Link Sar by Graham Zimmermann won, an incredible story of pushing boundaries on hard-to-reach peaks. The protagonists reveal their dilemmas, hopes and joys, with the red thread completely clear: life is most intense near death. The award for the best short film went to the American film Action Directe (Zachary Barr), which shows that with the right dose of persistence and passion we can sometimes achieve the impossible and that we live in times when the world's best female climbers are almost equal to their male counterparts.

The jury also gave honorary mentions to the mountaineering film The Story of Krzysztof Wielicki (Grzegorz Lipiec, Poland), the climbing film Theory of Falling (Alastair Lee, UK), the film Holy Bread (Rahim Zabihi, Iran) in the mountain nature and culture category, and the film Value of Time (Tom Dauer, Germany) among films about mountains, sports and adventure. The TV Slovenia jury, consisting of Aleša Valič and Miha Lampreht, awarded the film Swiss Paradise (Guillaume Broust, France), which takes us to the pantheon of the hardest long sport routes in the most prestigious walls, where former competitor Cedric Lachat with friends tests vertical instinct on fingertips and with a good dose of climbing humor.

In addition to quality films, the lecturers and guests also gave their mark to the 16th Mountain Film Festival with their stories. Alpinist, Himalayan climber, mountain rescuer and doctor Iztok Tomazin illuminated smuggling and other border-related stories in the mountains from Karavanke to Himalaya with his book On the Border, while Ivan Rejc humorously revived memories of his long alpinistic path and the 40th anniversary of the first Primorska expedition to Aconcagua. The women's quartet - Maruša Orel, Hana Geder, Jera Musič and Janja Vidmar - sparklingly shared their impressions and insights from long-distance hiking trails at the Romarke evening talk. The emotional premiere of the alpinistic trilogy Literary-Vertical: Search and Rebellion, Mountain Romance and Longing by Boštjan Virc and Rožle Bregar was enhanced in the discussion by co-director and director of photography Bregar along with alpinists and actors in the film Marija Štremfelj, Joža Mihelič, Aleš Bjelčevič and David Debeljak.

In addition to film screenings that will continue today and tomorrow in Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, Mestni kino Domžale, Linhartova dvorana in Radovljica and Mestni kino Metropol in Celje, Cankarjev dom today also hosts a lecture by alpinist Luka Stražar, who will take the audience through his search for balance and ascents of the past period - from home walls through the wonderful granite of the central Alps to the Himalaya and the first ascent route on Tsoboje, and the presentation of the book With Knowledge to the Stars: Slovenian School for Nepalese Mountain Guides and a conversation with the creators: editor Mojca Volkar Trobevšek, Dušica Kunaver, wife of the founder and first head of the school Aleš Kunaver, second and third heads of the school Peter Markič and Bojan Pollak, doctor Damijan Meško and instructors Andrej Štremfelj, Matjaž Šerkezi and Darja Jenko.

Screenings of award-winning films of the 16th Mountain Film Festival

Cankarjev dom, LJUBLJANA
Friday, 18 February 2022
20.00, Kosovelova dvorana: Snow Leopards and Friends, Holy Bread
20.00, Linhartova dvorana: Stena - Ascent to Gold

Mestni kino DOMŽALE
Saturday, 19 February 2022
15.00: Across Antarctica
17.30: Link Sar, The Story of Krzysztof Wielicki
20.00: Theory of Falling, Swiss Paradise

Linhartova dvorana, RADOVLJICA
Friday, 18 February 2022
20.00: Link Sar, Dhaulagiri is my Everest
Saturday, 19 February 2022
17.30: Snow Leopards and Friends, Holy Bread
20.00: Action Directe, Value of Time, Theory of Falling

Mestni kino Metropol, CELJE
Friday, 18 February 2022
20.00: Link Sar, The Story of Krzysztof Wielicki